Thursday, June 09, 2005

Changed the CMOS jumper and reset the CMOS. So Windows 2000 boots up, Asks for me to put in a password for the last user which was "student". So i tried a blank password, and it didnt work, next I did student, it worked. Then used mmc (Microsoft Management Console) to check users names on the computer, saw Administrator and logged off of student, tried Administrator with a blank password, what do ya know it worked. So now im in and the job is done. I shall contact the owner and let them know the good news for them, and see if theres any thing else they want done.

Google gets ready to use trucks to Map out the streets of San Franisco, Ca.

Google plans to use trucks equipped with lasers and digital photographic equipment to create a realistic 3D online version of San Francisco, and eventually other major US cities. The move would trump Amazon's A9 service, which offers two-dimensional photos of buildings on US city streets.

The trucks would drive along every San Francisco street using the lasers to measure the dimensions of buildings, to create a 3D framework onto which digital photos can be mapped. This would complement the mostly top-down view of San Francisco available through Google's Keyhole satellite photo application.[Source: Neowin.net]

"Physicists in the US and Germany have reported on a new way to double the storage capacity of magnetic recording devices. The method, which is compatible with standard lithography fabrication techniques, could help overcome the limits of conventional magnetic recording and allow storage densities of 1 terabit (1012) bits per square inch (M Albrecht et al. 2005 J. Appl. Phys. 97 103910). The increase in storage capacity is made possible by combining arrays of magnetic dots with multiple magnetic layers."[Source: physicsweb.org]

To my question yesterday about why one would use a BIOS password. Still is beyond, I, myself have had no reason to, nor do I see a reason. However I do understand if your some top level secrete squirrel with super monkey flying powers that shoots bees out its mouth when it barks. Other than that, I see no reason. Just makes it difficult to work on. I have tried everything I can think of and all that I can find on the net, from backdoor passwords (which were no help), pulling out the CMOS battery (for over 12 hours, and also pulling the powers supply from the motherboard) again no help at all, I would have used BIOS cracks but none will work, being that it doesn't get far enough to boot from a floppy. So my choice is to change the jumpers on the motherboard. In which I have to remove everything just to get to the jumpers, OH JOY! [see the cludder f**k mess], emachines are great arn't they.

No date has been mentioned but BBC Radio 1 was told by Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart) that "You know what? We've just done the table read for The Simpsons movie, so although we've been promoting that we're going to do it, now we're actually doing it and are in production," [Source: news.yahoo.com]

This has always been a rumor running around simpsons freaks sites and forums. So we'll see when it and if it follows through.. Yea.. Good stuff acoming. and I agree about them waiting for it to die down, but Hate to tell you this Matt G. Simpsons fans will not be happy if you cancel them or stop doing them, at until the 20th season. ;) (or 19th, but if you go that far then do the 20th)

"We can rebuild him, We have the technology...""Yea but I don't want to spend a lot of money."

Japan anounces a elderly super suit! A 33-pound battery-powered suit, code-named HAL-5, detects muscle movements through electrical-signal flows on the skin surface and then amplifies them... The prototype suit will be displayed at the World Exposition that is currently taking place in Aichi prefecture, central Japan. [Source: news.yahoo.com]

The P800 has all its parts in the right place: 40-80GB hard drive, 3.5” LCD screen, mono speaker, headphone jack, etc. There are some features, however, that set this bad boy apart... - Source: Gizmodo.comReview: PCstats.com

Our ISP connection went down today, and my phone lit up like a christmas tree. Everyone and their uncle was calling me to let me know that their gm sites weren't working, even their co-worker from the same department would call. One would think that 1 person from each department would call, but nope thats not the case here. (looks at phone and sees 11 messages, may not be alot but for being at 0 then to 11 in under about 5 minutes, its a lot.) People never cease to amaze me. I even amaze myself sometimes.

Turns out that the router we are on through SBCglobal took a crap and decided to take a vacation. So we were with out the wonders of the internet for about 45 mins or more. I have yet to tell a few people thats its back on, but thats only because they won't answer their phones. So i will let them figure it out.

Good news for me though, I now have a direct line to a tech at SBC, so I won't have to go through the norms of trying to get someone that knows something and is not just reading from a sheet of paper and going down the list, even though you tell them that you have already done this and that, they perist on you doing it again because maybe you didnt do it correctly. (most of my time was spent on the phone going through the options and such and talking to the robot sheet reader.) Non the less I did some of it after trying it again and failing, she transfered me to a 2nd level tech, and figured out the problem right off the bat. It was their router that was having issues. Thus it was fixed in no time.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

"I did this feat in order to test IE-specific changes to the Tickets To Go website, which I am turning from a non-HTML4-compliant tabled monstrousity to pure-CSS beauty." ~ HopeSeekrhttp://www.xmule.ws/node/8

The first one-time-use video camera goes on sale this week at CVS drugstores in the Northeast."The one-time-use camera revolutionized the film market," says Grant Pill, director of photography for CVS, the nation's No. 1 drugstore chain. "We see the same thing happening with video." - From a USA TODAY REPORT

We'll see how it goes over, Wonder if their reuse-able?Can't wait to see when someone gets Linux running on it![More Info]

Well, had that chat with Dell, pretty much what I did was what they wanted me to try. So the guy eventually told me to just do a repair Windows through the Resource cd that came with the laptop. Which is something I was planning anyways. So, I went and tried it... and it finished a few mintues ago. Now Im putting in drivers for it. But for what its worth it fix the issue. But now Im left thinking that theres still something wrong. because during the fix a few files had an issue with copying over. So I will try to copy them over in a few minutes after the drivers are done. (Drivers are fun to install when the Driver CD doesn't have the Drivers.) Ok.. Got the driver shorted out, went to dell.com and got it from there.

Windows repair was good, with the execption of the drivers being reinstalled, never the less no message box stating invalid product key. But my cuirosity gets to me, I want to check the product key and see if I can change it, and If I can successfully I'd want to update to SP2 again. just for shits and giggles to see if it will encounter the same issue or not. I did notice that the Product Key (press windows key + Pause/Break, to see yours, it shows up under Registered to: information, i.e. xxxxx-xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxx) is different than what it was. but Im not sure if I want to try update it to sp2, but I want to see what it does damn it. Screw it. (goes to update OS)...

Ok, I rolled back from SP2 to SP1. Then tired the Product thats on the laptop, Not luck, But I tired the one that is currently install with the laptop. It works. So I thought to myself, what about the other Product keys on the other Dells. So, I'm thinking that Dell gave the laptop a wrong product key for the version that is on the laptop. Meaning I need to call Dell up and tell them that the Product is not right, and dont work.

Was brought a work laptop today by a co-worker, The laptop was pruchase from Dell, and has the original software and OS loaded from dell still on it. So, I ask whats the problem?

"I brought the laptop home to use there, my son got on it and used it. After I got it back from him and Turned it on it came up with a message box saying that the Product key is invalid, and I need to call Microsoft or my systems administrator and now I can not use anything." - User

"Ok, what was your son doing on it?" - Me

"He fessed up to it and said the only thing he did was allow an update of Service pack 2, when it started and after he loged back on it came up with the error about being invalid." - User

"What does your son know how to do on a computer?" - Me

"Nothing... The only thing he does is gets online and goes to some place called myspace.com." - User

"Ok, I doubt it then that he knows how to change anything with the Productkey in windows. So, Im sure it has to do with SP2 being installed on the laptop..." - Me

After talking awhile I took the laptop and set it up in my office to play with. This is the actuall error that comes up after you sign in.

The Product Key used to install Windows is invalid. Please contact your system administrator or retailer immediately to obtain a valid Product Key. You may also contact Microsoft Corporation's Anti-Piracy Team by emailing piracy@microsoft.com if you think you have purchased pirated Microsoft software. Please be assured that any personal information you send to the Microsoft Anti-Piracy Team will be kept in strict confidence.

Hmm... So I started to look this up in the MS knowledge database to see how to clear this issue. So far no luck. I've tried a Product Key Changer, no deal. I've tired Article ID # 328874 which is How to change the volume license product key, No dice on that either; I found this article 326904 and still no luck, so finally i'm trying and uninstalling the SP2 updates and going to try the Product Key Changer again mainly because it was made for SP1 issues.

One of the things that gets me about this is the fact that the laptop's OS was installed by Dell and has not be re-installed or changed since the laptop was received. I have noticed that on all Dells the Product key that is on each dell (when it comes installed from dell) that they do not match the Product key on the outside of the box or laptop. We use Dell's here at my work and I have tried them on many workstations, and each time its the same outcome different keys. You can check yours by using KeyFinder by magic jelly bean, and has a built in Product Key Changer. I've also started my own KeyFinder which can be downloaded here.

New photos from my digital. from the past weekend (Magic Mountain) and a few months before.Enjoy, I will add these to my flickr.com account. Which you can see in the link to the right, labeled My Online Photos.

Somewhere at some point in time I use to have a blogger account, I have yet to remember it. So I created a new one. Wheter or not I remember what the account name is or was, it doesn't really matter much, because I didn't write much in it, I do however plan on writing in this one often, as much as I can or when I can. So let me explain who I am and where I am and what I do and Why oh why would I add another freaking blog on the net.

I am called Chad from most people, unless your karen (my girlfriend, other half, wife, what ever you may call it.) or one of my kids (which I have two, both of which are my step kids, (non red headed). I'm 27 and currently working at a car dealership as the Network & System Administrator. Unless your my boss whom seems to think that titles don't matter (and yet he gives me this title) Network & systems Technician, Why this is, is beyond me, because I am the only one who performs the work here, from Network troubleshooting, Help desk, PC repair and any other computer or network relate issue that may arise. Basically, I'm going to be adding happenings that go on here at work (yea, its an original idea, exciting ain't it!). That and other things life seems to throw me.

I just finished getting my AS in Computer Networking Systems, in which I graduate on the 10th of June 2005, which is this friday. (I'm eating lunch at this current moment, Also thinking of other things to about myself and this blog.. thinking to myself, Why did I just write that? Its not like you can read the pauses in between while I make my sandwich and or I take a bite. Yea, I'm brilliant like that), karen can vouch for me on that. I tend to space out at time, even though someone could be talking to me, it will seem like im paying attention but Im really not Im out there in Chadsville thinking of how the dr. pepper is tasting at that very moment or why would I want to take a pill that aids in prolonging diaherra (hold on spell check...) diarrhea. Hmm thats an interesting definition for it... As gotten from: www.dictionary.comDiarrhea (noun) - 1. Excessive and frequent evacuation of watery feces, usually indicating gastrointestinal distress or disorder. 2. Excessive and frequent evacuation of watery feces.3. abnormally frequent intestinal evacuations with more or less fluid stools. 4. frequent and watery bowel movements; can be a symptom of infection or food poisoning or colitis or a gastrointestinal tumor.heh.. Synonyms - backdoor trots, dysentery, flux, loose stool, Montezuma's revenge, runs, summer complaint, tourista, trots, turistas, blarney, cacoethes loquendi, diarrhea of the mouth, flowing tongue, furor loquendi, gift of the gab, logomania, logorrhea, verbal diarrhea, volubility.Heh, that great. Why is poop funny?So anyways, I tend to ramble sometimes, if you haven't noticed already. So enjoy my ramblings, and feel free to comment.